Reticle defect inspection apparatus and reticle defect inspection method

ABSTRACT

A reticle defect inspection apparatus that can carry out a defect inspection with high detection sensitivity are provided. The apparatus includes an optical system of transmitted illumination for irradiating one surface of a sample with a first inspection light, an optical system of reflected illumination for irradiating another surface of the sample with a second inspection light, and a detecting optical system that can simultaneously detect a transmitted light obtained by the first inspection light being passed through the sample and a reflected light obtained by the second inspection light being reflected by the sample. And the optical system of transmitted illumination includes a focusing lens driving mechanism for correcting a focal point shift of the transmitted light resulting from thickness of the sample.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2007-090054, filed on Mar. 30, 2007, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a reticle defect inspection apparatusand a reticle defect inspection method using a transmitted light and areflected light for inspection.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Patterns constituting a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI), asexemplified by DRAM of a gigabit class, have a minimum feature size onthe order of submicron to nanometer. One of major causes for yieldreduction in a manufacturing process of such an LSI includes defects ona reticle (also called a mask) used when a fine pattern is exposed andformed onto a semiconductor wafer using lithography technology.

Particularly with increasingly finer pattern dimensions of LSI formed ona semiconductor wafer, dimensions that must be detected as patterndefects are also becoming extremely smaller. Thus, apparatuses forinspecting for extremely small defects are vigorously being developed.

With progression of multimedia, on the other hand, an LCD is gettingincreasingly larger with a liquid crystal substrate size of 500 mm×600mm or more and a pattern such as a thin-film transistor (TFT) formed onthe liquid crystal is becoming increasingly finer, demanding anextensive inspection of extremely small pattern defects. Thus,development of an inspection apparatus for efficiently inspecting fordefects of a reticle (photomask) used for manufacture of a large-areaLCD in a short time is also urgently necessary.

Mainly a transmitting optical system is used as an optical system of adefect inspection apparatus of reticle and the like. That is, a samplesurface is shone using Koehler illumination as shown in FIG. 5A orcritical illumination as shown in FIG. 5B and then, a transmitted lightthereof is condensed and led to a detection system before image data isextracted. A defect inspection apparatus of a method using a transmittedlight is introduced, for example, in JJPA, Vol. 33 (1994), pp7156-71-62, “Mask defect inspection method by database comparison with0.25-0.35 μm sensitivity”.

In recent years, however, attempts to inspect for defects that aredifficult to detect by a transmitted light by using a reflected imagehave been made. For example, a pattern (defect) inspection apparatusthat tries to improve detection sensitivity by using an optical systemas shown in FIG. 6 and mounting a transmitted/reflected light opticalsystem is already in practical use (for example, Photomask and X-RayMask Technology IV, Vol. 3096 (1997), pp 404-414, “Performance ofcell-shift defect inspection technique”). In such an apparatus, twowavelengths, one (λ2 in FIG. 6) used for transmitted light inspectionand one (λ1 in FIG. 6) used for reflected light inspection, areseparated by a filter inside a configured optical system based onwavelengths and each light is brought into a transmission sensor or areflection sensor for detection.

Indeed, it has become necessary to make the wavelengths shorter toimprove defect detection sensitivity. Further, making inspectionwavelengths shorter has become necessary all the more because inspectedmatter increasingly requires inspection at wavelengths adjusting tothose used for lithography in order to improve detection sensibility. Onthe other hand, making inspection wavelengths shorter makes design of anoptical lens more difficult, particularly design of a lens whoseaberration is made smaller for both two wavelengths. Thus, a problemarises that it is difficult for a detection apparatus that detectsdefects of the size of 10 nm or so to adopt an optical system in which adifferent wavelength is used for transmission and reflection. Therefore,the necessity of an inspection method that acquires transmission andreflection images using a single wavelength arises.

Here, when an observation is made using a transmitted light and areflected light of a single wavelength, a method by which the sameposition is coaxially shone to gather observation images has generallybeen used (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,572,598; 5,563,702). In thismethod, a beam scan technology is generally adopted. FIG. 7 shows a beamscan type optical system. Since resolution can be increased for the beamscan type as beam spots formed on a reticle pattern surface becomesmaller, an illuminating optical system is produced by pursuing anaberration to the limit. And an inspection light is introduced from apatterned surface of a reticle to avoid an influence of thickness of thereticle. On the other hand, a light transmitted through or reflected bya reticle only needs to enter a photodiode or photomultiplier because itis necessary only to measure the amount of light. Therefore, an opticalsystem receiving light need not pursue an aberration and thus, noparticular problem arises even if measurement is made on the glasssurface side.

Indeed, when realizing a simultaneous inspection of transmission andreflection in a projecting optical system in which a reticle image isformed on a sensor, in contrast to the beam scan type, resolution isdetermined by performance of an image-forming optical system after beingtransmitted through or reflected by a reticle. Here, the image-formingoptical system must be arranged on the side of the pattern surface of areticle so that the image-forming optical system is not affected by theglass thickness of a reticle. Therefore, a transmitted illuminationlight must be introduced from the glass surface side of a reticle and areflected illumination light from the pattern surface side of thereticle.

To realize a simultaneous inspection of transmission and reflection in aprojecting optical system under such conditions, two optical systemsshown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 can be considered. In a method shown in FIG.8, directions of polarized lights incident on the reticle surface aftertransmission and reflection are caused to be perpendicular to eachother, and a light ray transmitted through the reticle and a lightreflected by the reticle are separated by a polarization beam splitter.This method has an advantage of being able to image the same position onthe reticle simultaneously, but due to separation of polarized light,both lights mix together to the extent that the polarized lights aredisturbed by reflection by optical elements or reticle surface or thelike, leading to a lower contrast. Therefore, this method may cause aproblem in a reticle defect inspection apparatus that requireshigh-precision inspection. A method shown in FIG. 9, on the other hand,is a method by which a transmitted illumination area and a reflectedillumination area are positionally separated (for example, JP-A2004-301751(KOKAI)). By separating both areas, a transmitted light and areflected light can be prevented from being mixed together.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Since a transmitted illumination light is incident on a reticle patternsurface after passing through a glass, a focal point shift depending onreticle thickness arises. Though no focal point shift arises if thereticle thickness is constant, thickness of reticle actually used varieswithin a tolerance (for example, ±0.1 mm) and thus, it is necessary tofocus transmitted illumination for each reticle. While, if a transmittedillumination area and a reflected illumination area should positionallybe separated, settings must be made so that the transmitted illuminationarea and the reflected illumination area do not overlap, it has becomeevident that a problem arises in which blurring of illuminated areasoccurs due to the focal point shift before being expanded so that thetransmitted illumination light penetrates into a reflected imaging area.Such problems must be tackled in order to carry out a defect inspectionwith high detection sensibility by simultaneous inspection oftransmission and reflection.

A reticle defect inspection apparatus in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention is a reticle defect inspection apparatus forinspecting for defects on a measured sample using a pattern imageobtained by irradiating the sample on which patterns are formed withlight that comprises: an optical system of transmitted illumination forirradiating one surface of the sample with a first inspection light; areflected illumination optical system for irradiating another surface ofthe sample with a second inspection light; and a detecting opticalsystem that can simultaneously detect a transmitted light obtained bythe first inspection light being transmitted through the sample and areflected light obtained by the second inspection light being reflectedby the sample, wherein the optical system of transmitted illuminationcomprises a focusing lens driving mechanism for correcting a focal pointshift of the transmitted light resulting from thickness of the sample.

A reticle defect inspection method in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention is a reticle defect inspection method for inspectingfor defects on a sample using a pattern image obtained by irradiatingthe sample on which patterns are formed with light, wherein a referencepattern is imaged using an inspection light shone on the sample from anoptical system of transmitted illumination and a reference pattern imageobtained by imaging the reference pattern is focused by driving afocusing lens driving mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an optical system of a reticle defectinspection apparatus in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of the reticledefect inspection apparatus in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of inspection stripes of an inspected areain the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing images and light quantity distributions of atransmission field stop in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a transmission type optical system of aconventional defect inspection apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the conventional defect inspectionapparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional beam scan type opticalsystem.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional projecting optical system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional projecting optical system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to drawings. A reticle defect inspection apparatus in thepresent embodiment is a reticle defect inspection apparatus thatinspects for defects on a sample by using a pattern image obtained byirradiating the sample on which a pattern is formed with light. Thereticle defect inspection apparatus comprises an optical system oftransmitted illumination that irradiates one surface of the sample witha first inspection light and an optical system of reflected illuminationthat irradiates another surface of the sample with a second inspectionlight. Moreover, the reticle defect inspection apparatus comprises adetecting optical system that can detect a transmitted light byirradiation of the sample with the first inspection light and areflected light by irradiation of the sample with the second inspectionlight simultaneously. Further, the optical system of transmittedillumination comprises a lens driving mechanism for focal pointcorrection that corrects a focal point shift of a transmitted lightcaused by thickness of the sample.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of the reticledefect inspection apparatus in the present embodiment. In a reticledefect inspection apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2, an inspected area in apattern formed on a reticle (or a photomask) 101, which is a sample tobe evaluated, is virtually divided, as shown in FIG. 3, into inspectionstripes in a strip shape having a width W. An inspection is carried outby putting the reticle 101 on an XYθ table 102 shown in FIG. 2 andcontinuously moving a uniaxial stage so that the divided inspectionstripes are continuously operated. When an inspection of one stripe iscompleted, step movement occurs for observation of the next stripe.

The reticle 101 is put on the XYθ table 102 using an autoloader 130 andan autoloader control circuit 113, but a pattern may not always be inparallel with a running axis of the table. Thus, the reticle 101 is inmost cases fixed onto a rotatable 0 stage so that the reticle 101 can bemounted in parallel with the running axis. The above XYθ table 102 iscontrolled by using an X-axis motor, a Y-axis motor, a θ-axis motor, anda table control circuit 114.

A pattern formed on the reticle 101 is irradiated by an illuminationoptical system 170 with a light emitted from a suitable light source103. After passing through the reticle, the light is incident on aphotodiode array 105, which is an imaging device for inspection, via anmagnifying optical system 104. A portion of a strip-shaped area of thevirtually divided pattern shown in FIG. 3 is magnified on the photodiodearray 105 before being formed as an optical image. The magnifyingoptical system 104 is autofocus-controlled in order to maintain goodimage-forming conditions.

A pattern image formed on the photodiode array 105 undergoes aphotoelectric conversion by the photodiode array 105 and further an A/Dconversion by a sensor circuit 106. Measured image data output from thesensor circuit 106 is sent to a comparing circuit 108 together with dataindicating the position of the reticle 101 on the XYθ table 102 outputfrom a positioning circuit 107.

Design data used for pattern formation of the reticle 101, on the otherhand, is read from a magnetic disk device 109 to a deployment circuit140 via a control computer 110. The read design data is converted by thedeployment circuit 140 into two-valued or multi-valued design imagedata, which is sent to a reference circuit 144. The reference circuit144 performs suitable filter processing on the sent graphic design imagedata.

The filter processing is performed because a filter has acted onmeasured pattern data acquired from the sensor circuit 106 by resolutioncharacteristics of the magnifying optical system 104, an aperture effectof the photodiode array 105 or the like and thus, the filter processingis performed also on the design image data to adjust the design imagedata to the measured image data. The comparing circuit 108 compares themeasured image data with the design image data on which suitable filterprocessing has been performed according to an appropriate algorithm and,if both pieces of data do not match, determines that the reticle isdefective.

In a reticle inspection apparatus in the present embodiment forinspecting for defects or foreign matter existing in a pattern formed onthe surface of a reticle, which is an inspected sample, a reticlepattern image is formed using an optical system similar to ahigh-resolution microscope, the reticle pattern image is acquired asimage information using, for example, a CCD camera like theaforementioned photodiode array or an imaging device such as a linesensor, and the image information is compared with a reference imageacquired or formed separately to detect defects or foreign matter in thepattern.

Incidentally, a detailed configuration of the optical system oftransmitted illumination, optical system of reflected illumination, anddetecting optical system to realize a simultaneous inspection oftransmission and reflection is not shown in FIG. 2. For realization of asimultaneous inspection of transmission and reflection, it is necessaryto provide an optical system of transmitted illumination, an opticalsystem of reflected illumination, and a corresponding detecting opticalsystem, and further two systems of the comparing circuit 108 or the likefor defect detection.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an optical system of the reticle defectinspection apparatus in the present embodiment. Of the overallconfiguration diagram shown in FIG. 2, a portion corresponding to thelight source 103, the illuminating optical system 170, the reticle 101,the XYθ table 102, the magnifying optical system 104, the photodiodearray 105, and the sensor circuit 106 is shown.

First, the optical system in FIG. 1 comprises a light source 10. Theoptical system also comprises a beam expander 12 for expanding a lightemitted from the light source 10 and an optical integrator 14 for makingthe light a surface light source. More specifically, a fly eye lens or adiffuser panel can be used as the optical integrator 14.

Moreover, the optical system comprises a collimator 18 for making alight that passes through the optical integrator 14 parallel rays. Afirst beam splitter 20 has a function of splitting parallel rays thathave passed through the collimator 18 into a transmitted illuminationlight, which is a first inspection light, and a reflected illuminationlight, which is a second inspection light. Here, an optical system fromthe first beam splitter 20 up to reticle 50 which irradiated with thetransmitted illumination light, which is the first inspection light, iscalled an optical system of transmitted illumination. An optical systemup to the reticle 50 which irradiated with the reflected illuminationlight, which is the second inspection light, is called an optical systemof reflected illumination.

The optical system of transmitted illumination and the optical system ofreflected illumination are each configured so that the transmittedillumination light and the reflected illumination light are provided asKoehler illumination at positions of a transmission field stop 22 and areflection field stop 24 respectively. In this specification, “atransmission field stop” means a field stop in the optical system oftransmitted illumination and “a reflection field stop” means a fieldstop in the optical system of reflected illumination. The position ofthe transmission field stop 22 is set in such a way that the positionand a pattern surface of the reticle 50 are conjugate and an arearegulated and illuminated by the transmission field stop 22 becomes atransmitted illumination area. A first pulse motor 26 for driving thetransmission field stop 22 is also provided to set a viewing position.Moreover, a focusing lens 28 and a condenser lens 30 are also arrangedso that a light, after passing through the transmission field stop 22,is provided as Koehler illumination on the pattern surface of thereticle 50. Incidentally, the focusing lens here may be a dedicatedfocusing lens or a lens constituting a portion of the condenser lens 30.

Further, the optical system of transmitted illumination has a secondpulse motor 32, which is a focusing lens driving mechanism, to correct afocal point shift of a transmitted light caused by thickness of thereticle 50. The second pulse motor 32 causes parallel movement of thefocusing lens 28 in a direction of optical axis so that the focus can beadjusted to the pattern surface at the bottom of the reticle 50 in FIG.1.

The position of the reflection field stop 24, on the other hand, is setin such a way that the position and the pattern surface of the reticle50 are conjugate and an area regulated and illuminated by the reflectionfield stop 24 becomes a reflected illumination area. A third pulse motor34 for driving the reflection field stop 24 is also provided to set aviewing position. Moreover, a collimator 36 and an objective lens 38 arealso arranged so that a light, after passing through the reflectionfield stop 24, is provided as Koehler illumination on the patternsurface of the reticle 50. A second beam splitter 40 is provided betweenthe collimator 36 and the objective lens 38 to introduce a reflectedillumination light onto the pattern surface.

In addition, the reticle defect inspection apparatus in the presentinvention has a detecting optical system that can simultaneously detecta transmitted light obtained by irradiation of the reticle 50 with thefirst inspection light and a reflected light obtained by irradiation ofthe sample with the second inspection light. First, the objective lens38 for condensing both the transmitted light and reflected light isprovided as a component of the detecting optical system. Further, athird beam splitter 42 for separating the light condensed by theobjective lens 38 into a transmitted light and a reflected light isprovided. Also, a first image-forming optical system 44 for forming animage of the transmitted light separated by the third beam splitter 42and a second image-forming optical system 46 for forming an image of thereflected light separated by the third beam splitter 42 are provided.

Further, the reticle defect inspection apparatus in the presentinvention comprises a first imaging sensor 54, which is an imagingdevice for inspection of pattern images by the transmitted light whoseimage is formed by the first image-forming optical system 44, and asecond imaging sensor 56, which is an imaging device for inspection ofpattern images by the reflected light whose image is formed by thesecond image-forming optical system 46 are provided.

According to the reticle defect inspection apparatus in the presentembodiment described above, even if a focal point shift of a transmittedlight resulting from thickness of a reticle arises, the focal pointshift can be corrected by driving a focusing lens driving mechanism.

Further, the reticle defect inspection apparatus in the presentembodiment may have a reference pattern formed in the optical system oftransmitted illumination and an imaging means for observation of thereference pattern, which is independent of imaging device for inspectionof pattern images, in order to facilitate corrections when a focal pointshift of a transmitted light resulting from thickness of the reticlearises. However, the reference pattern and the imaging device forobservation are not required components.

Here, a suitable pattern for focal point shift correction may be newlyprovided as the reference pattern, but it is preferable that thetransmission field stop 22 in FIG. 1 be used as the reference pattern inorder not to increase the number of components of the apparatus.

Also, the apparatus has a third imaging sensor 58, which is an imagingdevice for observation for imaging a reference pattern. The thirdimaging sensor 58 is independent of the first imaging sensor 54 and thesecond imaging sensor 56. Further, a mirror 60 insertable by a pulsemotor (not shown) or the like is provided on an optical path between theobjective lens 38 and the third beam splitter 42. In addition, a thirdimage-forming optical system 62 that enables the third imaging sensor 58to pick up an image of the reference pattern caused to be formed from alight introduced by the mirror 60 is provided.

The reticle defect inspection apparatus in the present embodiment isprovided, as described above, with the reference pattern formed in theoptical system of transmitted illumination and the imaging device forobservation for acquiring an image of the reference pattern that isdifficult to acquire by the imaging device for inspection in view of aninspection image acquisition area. Accordingly, the optical system canbe made simple without the need for a mechanism to move the referencepattern to the inspection image acquisition area.

Further, the reticle defect inspection apparatus in the presentembodiment comprises a correcting mechanism for correcting a referencepattern image obtained by imaging the reference pattern formed in theoptical system of transmitted illumination using a focusing lens drivingmechanism in order to maximize the contrast of the image so thatcorrections when a focal point shift of a transmitted light arisesresulting from thickness of a reticle. However, this correctingmechanism is not a required component in the present invention.

More specifically, a correcting mechanism 70 arranged as shown in FIG. 1is constituted, for example, by an A/D conversion processing part and anarithmetic processing part. The A/D conversion processing part digitizesa reference pattern image picked up by the third imaging sensor 58. Thearithmetic processing part calculates the focusing lens position where acontrast of a reference pattern image, that is, a differential value ofthe amount of light of a reference pattern image, become maximum. Thearithmetic processing part outputs information of the focusing lensposition to a focusing lens driving mechanism. A differential value ofthe amount of light can be calculated by both of predetermined softwareand hardware.

By using the aforementioned correcting mechanism, accuracy of focalpoint shift corrections and workability thereof are further improvedbecause focal point corrections can be made automatically and uniquely.

The aforementioned correcting mechanism may be a correcting mechanismfor correcting a focal point shift of a transmitted light usingthickness information of a measured reticle. In that case, thecorrecting mechanism will have an input device of thickness informationof a measured reticle such as an input keyboard and an arithmeticprocessing part that calculates an optimal focusing lens position fromthe thickness information and outputs information of the focusing lensposition to the focusing lens driving mechanism. According to thecorrecting mechanism described above, there is an advantage that a timeneeded for corrections can further be reduced by making acquisition of areference pattern image and processing such as contrast calculationunnecessary.

Next, a reticle defect inspection method using a reticle defectinspection apparatus in the present embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 1. First, a reference pattern is imaged using aninspection light shone on the reticle 50, which is a sample to beevaluated, from an optical system of transmitted illumination. Here, thetransmission field stop 22 in the optical system of transmittedillumination is used. As described above, the transmission field stop 22is set as a position, which is conjugate with the pattern surface of thereticle 50. Then, the reference pattern is imaged by the third imagingsensor 58 after the mirror 60 being inserted between the objective lens38 and the third beam splitter 42.

FIG. 4 shows images and light quantity distributions of the transmissionfield stop 22 actually picked up according to the above method. FIG. 4Ashows a defocused image when a reticle is thinner by 0.1 mm, FIG. 4Bshows an image when no focal point shift occurs, and FIG. 4C showsdefocused image when a reticle is thicker by 0.1 mm. Areas enclosed by asolid line in the images of the figure are transmission fields, whichare inspection areas by a transmitted light and hatched areas arereflection fields, which are inspection areas by a reflected light. Aright half of each image is an area into which originally no lightpenetrates by being blocked by the transmission stop.

As is evident from the figure, when a focal point shift occurs due to atolerance of reticle thickness, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4C, atransmitted light leaks into the reflection field area, inducing aphenomenon in which an image of blurred edges of the transmission fieldstop, which is a reference pattern, is obtained. That is, the contrastdeteriorates and the differential value (inclination) of the amount oflight in the edges becomes smaller. Conversely, when there is no focalpoint shift, edges become vivid and the contrast, that is, thedifferential value (inclination) in edges of the amount of light takes amaximum value.

Thus, in the reticle defect inspection method according to the presentembodiment, the second pulse motor 32, which is a focusing lens drivingmechanism, is moved to pick up an image of the transmission field stop22 by the third imaging sensor 58. Then, the picked-up image is inputinto the correcting mechanism 70 to calculate a differential value(inclination) of the amount of light in edges by an arithmeticprocessing part thereof. Then, the arithmetic processing part of thecorrecting mechanism 70 outputs information of the focusing lensposition where the value takes the maximum value to the focusing lensdriving mechanism. Based on the information of the focusing lensposition, the focusing lens 28 is moved to correct a focal point shift.

According to the present embodiment described above, a reticle defectinspection apparatus and a reticle defect inspection method that cancarry out a defect inspection with high detection sensitivity bycorrecting a focal point shift of a transmitted illumination light dueto variations in reticle thickness with ease can be applied.

An embodiment of the present invention has been described above withreference to concrete examples. Though a description of components thatare not directly needed for describing the present invention such as areticle defect inspection apparatus and a reticle defect inspectionmethod is omitted in descriptions of the embodiment, components neededfor a reticle defect inspection apparatus or a reticle defect inspectionmethod can suitably be selected and used.

In addition, all reticle defect inspection apparatuses and reticledefect inspection methods having components of the present invention andwhose design can suitably be modified by a person skilled in the art areincluded in the scope of the present invention. Additional advantagesand modification will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

Additional advantages and modification will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A reticle defect inspection apparatus for inspecting for defects on asample using a pattern image obtained by irradiating the sample on whichpatterns are formed with light, comprising: a light source; an opticalsystem of transmitted illumination configured to irradiate one surfaceof the sample with a first inspection light; an optical system ofreflected illumination configured to irradiate another surface of thesample with a second inspection light; a detecting optical systemconfigured to simultaneously detect a transmitted light obtained by thefirst inspection light being transmitted through the sample and areflected light obtained by the second inspection light being reflectedby the sample; a first imaging device configured to inspect the patternimage obtained by the transmitted light; and a second imaging deviceconfigured to inspect the pattern image obtained by the reflected light,wherein the optical system of transmitted illumination comprises afocusing lens being located on an optical path between the light sourceand the sample, and a focusing lens driving mechanism configured tocorrect a focal point shift of the transmitted light resulting from athickness of the sample by moving the focusing lens.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a reference pattern configuredto correct a focal point shift of the transmitted light resulting fromthe thickness of the sample, the reference pattern being provided in theoptical system of transmitted illumination, and the reference patternbeing located on the optical path between the light source and thesample; and a third imaging device configured to observe an image of thereference pattern.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, furthercomprising a correcting mechanism configured to make corrections usingthe focusing lens driving mechanism so that a maximum contrast of areference pattern image obtained by imaging the reference pattern isachieved.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising acorrecting mechanism configured to correct a focal point shift of thetransmitted light using thickness information of the sample, which ismeasured in advance, and the focusing lens driving mechanism.